The Unexpected Appearance of a Blue Box
by Nuala Gale
Summary: It was a very ordinary day. Bethany Ferris and her horse, Peg, were out for an ordinary sort of trail ride on their gravel road when something happened that neither of them would ever have expected. Warning: this is a very horsey story, because I am a very horsey girl.


**Author's Note:** I do not and never hope to own Doctor Who. I do, however, have the unbelievable blessing of having owned Mr. Peg here. He is mine, and you can't have him. :)

This story is a random sort of idea that popped into my head today. I don't know exactly where it is going, but I am enjoying the journey. I can only hope it brings the reader as much pleasure as it brings the author. Constructive criticism is welcomed. Part of the reason I am here is a desire to improve my writing abilities.

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It was a typical day in the life of 21 year old Bethany Ferris. She had cleaned the barn and turned out the horses, and she was enjoying a relaxing trail ride down the gravel road upon which she lived. Her mount, a wise pinto gelding known as Peg, wore funny little rubber shoes to keep the gravel from bruising his delicate hooves, because they liked to gallop down the road in the stretches where it was straight and open.

"You're such a good boy, Peg. Let's have a long ride today," Bethany suggested. She talked to the horse a lot, even though she knew others thought her odd for doing so. Peg understood more than those other people thought, though, and he made good company.

As the horse and rider trotted busily down the road, they were not thinking of anything in particular. Bethany was allowing the quiet one-two rhythm of Peg's trot to blank out the worries, concerns, and responsibilities that continually floated through her mind. If you had asked Peg what he was thinking, he'd likely have given you his special brand of crazy eye that meant, "Why should I tell you?" He liked to keep his secrets to himself, unless Bethany was the one asking.

The pair was not on the lookout for danger or disturbance by any means. The gravel road held no surprises, unless you counted the occasional soda can or McDonald's bag tossed out of the back of a beat-up pickup truck by careless country dwellers. There was the 3 o'clock school bus, but both horse and rider knew all about that. Peg was much too wise of a horse to be seriously ruffled by a bus, even if it did speed and throw up a cloud of dust. Of course, there was the neighbor's paint mare, who loved to charge up to the fence and send Peg prancing away half in fright, half in a desire to show off his dance moves. She never lacked the ability to startle both equine and human, but there was no harm done.

Reaching a perfect galloping spot, Bethany gave Peg a nudge in the ribs with her heels. His tail went up stiffly, and he took off with gravel flying behind him, startling the cows that grazed in the pastures along the roadside. He and Bethany just loved scaring those cows. Caught up in the speed and the moment, neither noticed the strange noises just up the road until a large blue box, resembling a Porta-potty more than anything else in Peg and Bethany's world, materialized right there in the midst of the thick weeds and old trash along that southern gravel road.

Although Peg considered himself to be a sensible fellow, blue Porta-potty boxes that appeared out of nowhere were NOT things he was prepared to handle. He reacted like any equine in possession of a whole, working brain would and promptly swerved around and bolted for home. Bethany, being a rather experienced rider, was able to turn him and convince him to re-evaluate the mysterious object.

"Come on, Peg, it isn't gonna eat ya. Let's get a closer look. Come on, this is a great training exercise!" Bethany wondered how she had missed seeing the thing before, since logically it couldn't have just appeared out of nowhere. She pushed her glasses, which had been knocked loose in Peg's mad dash for home and safety, back up onto a more secure and helpful position on her nose and squinted at the lettering on the box. "I really need to see the eye doctor again," she made a mental note. _Did that thing say "Police Box" or was she still not reading it correctly?_

Stellar trail gelding that he was (He had once placed 5th in an Extreme Horsemanship Challenge, but he wasn't one to boast.), Peg gave it a try. Bethany sweet-talked him into approaching close, and he reached out his inquisitive pink and brown nose to bump the nasty thing. Unfortunately for Peg's confidence and Bethany's training exercise, at this delicately balanced moment the box's doors burst open with a dramatic bang.


End file.
